


Four Player Pacman

by dkthunderIV



Series: Road Trip Before it All Goes To Shit [3]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Arcades, Fluff, Gabe is an extremely sore loser, M/M, Rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-17
Updated: 2016-06-17
Packaged: 2018-07-15 13:31:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7224337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dkthunderIV/pseuds/dkthunderIV
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The next stop of Jack and Gabe's surprise shore leave is an arcade. Jack shows off his skills at old-school games, leaving a furious and rilvalry-fueled Gabe in the dust.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four Player Pacman

The arcade is smoky and full of sweaty teens trying to relax after a long day at school. Orange tickets flow out of cabinets like water, laughter and music pour from every angle. Gabe feels a little out of place, but Jack looks right at home. Golden boy drags him to a specific set of cabinets, two seats with wheels situated in front of them as if they were race cars. He grins in confusion, scratching the back of his head, Jack taking a seat in one.

“What’s this, babe?” Gabe asks, watching the cars zip by in the demo screen.

“Just a bit of light-hearted fun,” he responds mischievously, taking a seat. One hand waits on the wheel, tapping impatiently. “You always kick my ass when we play other games, so I wanted to see how well you would do with the classics.”

Jack’s got a shit eating grin on his face. If memory serves both of them well, the last time there had been a Mario Kart tournament on base, Gabe was famously in last place the entire time and miserable.

“You are fucking _on,_ little _shit_ ,” Gabe growls, feeling the heat of rivalry burn in the pit of his stomach. Despite the sudden burst of passion, before the match begins, he gives Jack a quick kiss.

“For luck,” he explains with a wink. Jack rolls his eyes at the cheesiness.

Quarters roll into the machine with a satisfying _clink,_ and they’re presented with the title screen. Awkwardly they turn the wheels left and right to settle on which car they want to use: a blue sporty number for Gabe, and a sleek black one for Jack, both making fun of the other’s respective favorite colors. Jack chooses a city track, and the game places them both at the front.

A red traffic light pops up in the overhead. It counts down, and Gabe realizes that he has no idea how to control his car.

The light is green now, and Jack is already smoking Gabe. Cars flash by him on the tiny screen, Gabe all the while fumbling with the different pads at his feet. He kicks reverse by accident twice before figuring out where the accelerator is, and finally begins his tour. Only not, because as soon as he’s over the line he’s knocked over two traffic cones and run straight into a wall. He groans loudly in frustration, and Jack just giggles in a Schadenfreude-fueled glee.

Gabe is distracted momentarily by Jack’s infuriating but extremely sweet face. That look of concentration suits him well: brows furrowed, eyes locked onto the objective, with a cocky smile lighting up his still roundish face. He doesn’t dwell on it for too long, though, because two seconds later he’s crashed into another wall and sent straight into last place.

The entire race is much like this; no communication between the two, just an occasional laugh or shout in frustration. Gabe managed to struggle into seventh place by the end, but only by the skin of his teeth. Jack, of course, comes in first, leaning back into the cheap leather seat to look at Gabe with the _worst_ shit eating grin on his face.

“Aren’t you so proud of yourself,” Gabe grumbles, pretending to be personally wounded. Jack giggles and elbows him in the side before wrapping his arms around him in a tight embrace, peppering the surly older man with light kisses. Gabe squirms under Jack’s grip, the feather-light touches of the other’s lips tickling him and reflexively make him laugh.

“Maybe you’ll be better at four-way Pacman?” Jack poses, pulling Gabe out of the booth with him. Gabe’s brow draws in confusion and panic as he’s dragged towards it, watching in awe as Jack asks other arcade goers to play with them. He thought he knew video games, but… Now he just feels old??

“Since when was that a thing?” he asks weakly, eyes wide in a strange mix of rage and fear just looking at the four player console.

“It’s been around a while. Early two thousand’s maybe?” Jack snickers evilly, and Gabe reflexively swallows. “I think you’ll have fun!”

That’s a line Gabe’s heard before, only Jack wasn’t the one using it. Every time they sit down to play a shooter, that exact phrase is the one _he_ uses to convince Jack into playing.

He has a feeling that this revenge may have been building up for a long time. This spells major trouble, but he can’t refuse those pretty blue eyes.

“Oh my god,” he mumbles to himself. The game begins, there are four Pacmans on the screen and way too many ghosts and dots and fruit, and right off the bat he’s been eaten by the blue Pacman. The same time he growls in frustration, Jack whoops in delight. He’d look over and scowl at him, but once he’s alive again he gets eaten by green Pacman.

Every time he respawns, Gabe can’t seem to escape the other players. He tries to pick up fruit, but he’s either beaten to the punch or just straight up eaten again. Then when the other players stop targeting him and go for each other, he gets knocked out by the ghosts over and over.

Gabe is absolutely steaming. Blue Pacman nabs his red ass again, and he straight up screams in frustration as the game comes to a close. He’s in dead last. Again.

“How can I _lose_ to other people at _fucking_ _Pacman_?!” Gabe screeches, head heavy in his hands. Jack is doubled over in laughter with the strangers they decided to play with, his poor boyfriend reeling back in distress from the table.

“Is this how you feel when we play shooters??” Gabe yells, grasping Jack’s shaking shoulders. The former farm boy just jerkily nods in response, driven to tears from the comedy of the situation. Gabe yells again, drawing that stupid perfect boy to his chest in a furiously tight embrace, jerking both of them from side to side in absolute fury.

“I am the _worst!_ ” he shouts, accentuating his point with a kiss to Jack’s temple. “But you’re not far behind, sunshine!”

“Revenge is sweet,” Jack manages among raucous laughter. Gabe pecks him on the mouth with a frustrated groan, silently agreeing.

**Author's Note:**

> just a short and sweet one. sorry for the long wait on this next part, it was a really tough week/end for me. i have plenty planned for this little storyline though, so just you wait!
> 
> also: special thanks to tumblr user meganebae/naranichan for making frankly spectacular fanart of gold and grey! i love it so much, dawg, thank you <3<3  
> (image is nsfw, just warning you: http://naranichan.tumblr.com/post/145913542952/nah-tonight-im-taking-care-of-you-he-says)  
> please, if you have any works in response to this series, send me a message through tumblr, dkthunderiv. i'd love to see it!!!


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